16. Catherine the Great was neither named Catherine nor was she Russian
The woman who is known to history as Catherine the Great was named Sophie by her parents, Prussian aristocrats down on their luck, who offered their daughter as a potential bride for Russian Tsar Peter III (then Crown Prince). As with many of the Tsars, Peter III was overthrown by a coup and his wife, who had taken the name Ekaterina upon their wedding, ascended to the throne as Tsarina. Despite the claims of many, there is no evidence that Catherine had her husband assassinated following the coup which dethroned him. Catherine created the Imperial Crown which became a treasure of the Romanov Dynasty in Russia, though she was not herself of Romanov descent.